[Brian_W]

Hi there,

I've been running for about 3 weeks now, my routine consists of running 5.6k 3 times a week, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I was reasonably fit to start with as i used to play football but, i did a couple of 5k races during the summer and i really enjoyed the experience, so i decided that i'd take up running with a view to entering more races next year.

I usually maintain a steady to moderate pace on my runs, and i normally record a time of about 24:20, almost consistently! I would like to go quicker but, i'm not sure how i can alter my training to take it up a level, so to speak.

I recently borrowed a book on 5 & 10k running from my local library but, the author was babbling on about stuff that didn't make any sense (to me anyway:embarrassed: !!), heart rate, racing energy, tempo, power, pie charts graphs etc etc. it might as well of been written in a foreign language.

Please forgive me if i'm going over old ground here but, can anyone offer any advice?

Cheers.

 

[Katten]

Hi Brian, welcome to the forum

The best way to build up speed is probably to do some stuff geared towards it, like a few reps of 1 minute flat-out as fast as you can then 2 minutes recovery. Or "fartlek" which is basically a normal run but you go fast as and when you feel like it.

If you're totally new to running, it's probably a good idea to get some proper running shoes, preferably from a specialist running shop, who can advise what shoes to get for your running style.

Have fun

 

[pedestrian]

... Or "fartlek" which is basically a normal run but you go fast as and when you feel like it...Have fun

Careful, you could scare people with words like "fartlek"!

Does the word originate from Sweden? I know it's scandinavian, anyway. Literally meaning something like "speed play".

 

[richardsimkiss]

Hi Brian... running can be as complicated or as simple as you like. Basically, if you want to race faster, you have to get your body used to running faster. So as has been said above, go out on your runs and do short sections at a hard pace (faster than your 5k pace), over time your body gets used to to legs moving this quickly and it should translate to quicker race times. These short sections could be anything from a sprint between 2/3 lamposts or a maintained strong effort over several minutes.

You can easily learn more about different types of training and what everything means with a few mins searching on the net (and plenty of reading)